GM Gata Kamsky took first place in the Mayor's Cup, the World Open and now sits atop the USCF rating list. (Look for Greg Shahade's August list recap in the next few days.) This, combined with his international performances in Sofia and Turin, firmly place him as the man to beat in American chess.

Chess Life Online brings you annotations from his Mtel result by IM Josh Friedel, one of America's most dedicated and talented young players. [DOCUMENT:21]Download Josh Friedel's annotations in Chessbase[/DOCUMENT] or scroll down for play through games and read the analysis.

As a child prodigy, Gata's life was rigorously structured, and his serious expression reflected that. Now at thirty-two years, Gata actually looks younger. Gata’s current chess training regiment is sporadic. The cornerstone of Gata’s daily routine is a 2 mile walk with his family on the boardwalk.

He shares a three room Brighton Beach apartment with his wife Alisa and two-year-old son Adam. They live steps away from the “Q” train, thirty minutes from Manhattan, and smelling distance from the ocean.

Gata calls his wife Alisa "his lucky charm.” Gata met her while promoting chess in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, where Gata was born. She was wearing a beautiful navy dress, and it only took Gata a few days to realize she was the woman for him. Before he left, he invited her to come live with him in America.

Trained as a doctor in Kazan, Alisa is busy adjusting to New York and starting a family. She doesn't know the rules of the game, but she and Gata agree that she often has a sixth sense about his results, accurately predicting when he'll win or lose.

Gata agrees with Alexander Onischuk that TDs should provide sets and clocks for top players: "A World Championship Candidate bringing his own clock to the game," he exclaims, "Only in America!"

Gata became close with all the team members in the Turin Olympiad, but he acknowledges that now things are back to normal, and they all aim to crush each other.

Gata with his wife Alisa. Photo JS

Gata, psyching himself up for a game at the U.S. Championship. Photo Jacob Okada

Gata thinks it only makes sense for a player of his caliber to come back to chess if the ultimate goal is the world crown. For several years, Gata disappeared from chess to study more lucrative but less celebrity-oriented fields like medicine and law. Gata missed the game and the fanfare. After dipping a toe back into the chess world via ICC, he was eventually convinced to dive back in. As for a more immediate goal now that he’s back in chess, there’s one that stands out.

"I will keep playing in the U.S. Championship until I win it,” says Gata.

These two have a long history. In my database, I have 92 games in which they have played, including a 1995 candidates match which Anand barely won. However, there was a huge gap between 1996 and 2006 due to Kamsky leaving chess. It is nice to see these old rivals go back at it!

8...d6 9.c3 is the main line lopez.; 8...d5?! 9.exd5 Nxd5 10.Nxe5 Nxe5 11.Rxe5 and black doesn't have enough compensation for the pawn, as h3 is a much more useful defensive move than c3 here.

9.d3 d6 10.a3 Qd7

Though Na5 and Nb8 are also commonly played here, Qd7 was the preferred move this tournament. All of these options aim to improve the position of black's lame c6 knight. 11.Nbd2 Nd8 Ponomariov chose Rfe8 against Kamsky later this tournament, but Gata prefers to transfer is knight to e6 immediately. The variations often transpose, however.

12.c3N

White chooses to play for d4 quickly, skipping over the usual first step of transfering the knight to g3. Though this puts pressure on black more quickly, the knight isn't ideally placed on d2, and will often be in white's way later in the game.

12...Ne6 13.d4?!

I really think white should transfer the knight first. Most likely Anand missed Kamsky's next move.

13...Rad8!

Already we see the drawbacks of the knight on d2. With the knight on g3 this move would not be possible.

14.d5

This leads to nothing, but it is hard to find an alternative. If 14.dxe5 dxe5 15.Nxe5 Qd6 16.Nef3 Nxe4! 17.Nxe4 Qxd1 18.Bxd1 Bxe4=

14...Nf4 15.Nf1 Ng6 c6

d5 is coming next move, and there is really no good way to counter it.

16.Ng3

16.Bg5 h6 17.Bxf6 Bxf6 and black's knight will head back to f4, where it will be a menace to society.; 16.N3h2 c6 17.Ng4 (17.Bg5? Nxd5!) 17...Nxg4 18.Qxg4 cxd5 19.Qxd7 Rxd7 20.Bxd5 Bxd5 21.exd5 f5 and black is happy.

16...c6 17.Bg5

Both sides fight for the d5 square.

17...cxd5 18.Bxf6 Bxf6 19.Bxd5 Nf4 20.Bxb7 Qxb7

White has lost control of d5, and black equalizes comfortably.

21.Qc2 g6 22.Rad1 d5=

Black achieves the desired d5 break, solving nearly all of his opening problems.

23.exd5 Rxd5 24.Rxd5 Qxd5 25.Rd1 Qe6 26.Qe4 Rb8

I don't understand this move, though it doesn't harm black's position any. a5-b4 doesn't look very strong, and Qb7 doesn't look very threatening.

Re8 or Bg7 would make more sense to me.

27.Ne2 Nxe2+ 28.Qxe2 Re8

and back he goes.

29.Qe4 h6

Making sure the knight can't hop to g5 when he plays Bg7.

30.g4?!

White tries to prevent black from playing f5, but this move will give Anand headaches later.

30...Bg5

Threatening to go to f4 with the bishop, after which f5 will be very strong.

31.Nxg5 hxg5 32.Qd5

White forces the queens off, but this doesn't put an end to all his problems.

38.Ke3 f5 39.Kd4! (39.Rg8 Kf6 40.Rd8 Ke5 and black is making progress.) 39...Rc4+ (39...Rd6+?? 40.Rxd6+ Kxd6 41.b4 followed by c4 and it is white who wins.) 40.Ke3 f4+ 41.Ke2 Rc6 42.Rd4 Ke5 43.f3 and white should be able to draw.]

38...exf3+ 39.Kxf3 Rd6! 40.Re8+

Though white should still hold after this, the king and pawn ending was a draw.

Anand resigned after this final touch. White has to play Kf1, after which black's king heads to the queenside, taking the pawns and cutting off white's king just in time. For those of you who are too tired to calculate here is the line. [57...Ke3 58.Kf1 Kd3 59.Kf2 Kxc3 60.Kf3 Kb4 61.Kxf4 Kxa4 62.Ke3 Kb3 63.Kd2 Typical of pawn endgames is for one tempo to change a draw to a loss or a win to a draw. Kamsky shuts out the white king just in time. 63...Kb2]

I'm not sure black should be so quick to take this bishop. [21...a5 22.Bc2 b4÷] 22.Qxb3 Nc5 23.Qd1 a5 24.Qb1 Ne4 25.Rd1² b4?! This move leads to trouble, though it is hard to recommend an alternative. 26.axb4 Bxb4 [26...axb4 27.Qd3²]

27.Nc2!

An easy move to miss, as the knight was so well placed on d4. Now black's in a quandary. Does he want to defend a weak b-pawn or a weak a-pawn? One of the things about the Ruy Lopez is that black's apparent queenside activity is more likely to be a liability than a strength. That's one of the reasons the Ruy has become more popular than the Italian game, which was the main line a century ago.

27...Qe7 28.Nxb4 Qxb4 29.Qa2

Now the a-pawn is seriously weak, and black's bishop is a very loose piece.

29...Ra8?!

29...Rc2 (30.Qxa5 Qxa5 31.Rxa5 Rxb2 32.Bd4)

30.Rd4 Qb5 31.Ra4 Bc6 32.Rxa5 Rxa5 33.Qxa5 Qxb2 34.Rc1 Ba8 35.Rc7±

Black's king is in serious danger.

35...d4?

Black tries to free his bishop, but this move loses by force.

35...Qb8 is probably black's best try, though the situation is far from pleasant after 36.Qa7 Qxa7 37.Rxa7 h6 38.Nd4±